Leader of the 'Tomb Team' at the Australian War Memorial has died

Detailed summary

Distinguished historian led the project to bring the Unknown Soldier to Canberra

One of Canberra and Australia's most distinguished historians and authors has died. He was also responsible for one of the most visited and moving landmarks in the city.

Michael McKernan led the project to create the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Australian War Memorial. The group there came to call themselves "The Tomb Team". They would reunite to reminisce every year on November 11 - but this year with Dr McKernan absent.

"Every year, we've had a Tomb Team dinner but yesterday was very sad," historian Richard Reid, who was on the team at the memorial, said. "Michael would always raise a toast 'to the best team ever'."

Apart from his practical work on the project, Dr McKernan wrote 19 books on a wide variety of subjects, from sport to the environment, but he was best known for his military histories.

He became the principal historian at the Australian War Memorial and its deputy director after graduating from the Australian National University in 1972, getting his doctorate there, and then teaching at the University of New South Wales.

In 1993, he was charged with identifying where the remains of the anonymous soldier should be exhumed from to be returned to Australia and placed in the tomb.

Years later, Dr McKernan said the argument was settled quickly. "Warrior isn't an Australian word, and these men were not warriors," he said. "They were part-time soldiers who'd enlisted briefly and went on with the rest of their lives, if they survived."

Dr Reid was there at the exhumation of the soldier who was then entombed in Canberra. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission had identified five graves which were felt to offer the suitable remains.

"Michael said to me, 'Don't come back with a handful of dust,' and we didn't," Dr Reid said.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Canberra Times. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.